Pokémon Mystery Expanse: The Origin of Change
by All Opatry
Summary: The Sand Continent gets its own story in the PMD universe! Beetle is the son of a nomad chief. Their tribe, the Rovers, summoned Protectors for the Continent. Then Yveltal and the Void defeated them. Now, ten years later, one appears before Beetle! Except he seems... off? With a rival tribe on the rise, they must summon the other three protectors before it's too late!
1. chapter 1

The Moiety stood as hollowed ground, not for pokemon to disturb with a light cause. It held a sculpting of the four Protectors, pokemon of force, defenders of the Sand Continent, now gone, stopped a decade ago when they fell to Yveltal in battle and crashed into dust. Beetle stood right under their visage and fought the urge to quail under his failure to right himself.

A heracross, a nidoking, a solrock, and an ivysaur. All surrounding a pidgeot: the first four Protectors and their summoner. Nowadays, many believed they lived in an age after the last four. A coat of ancient dust blanketed everything in the lonely tomb.

Pokemon held forward lanterns for a politoed, named Maxim, who moved in on Beetle.

Maxim arrived two feet from the sandshrew and presented the tome tucked in his arms. His limbs shook as he brought it still closer to the child. It was a heavy book, physically and in content.

The smell of the ceremonial bread flavored with sitrus spread, which they partook in before setting out, lingered on the politoed's breath. It didn't scatter until an assistant came forward to open the book, well over one thousand and five hundred pages-in just this first volume. Then its musty pages took over the ruins. Its familiarity pulled Beetle in.

"Young traveler," Maxim announced. "You were born in the Wastes. Here you began your journey with the tribe. Here, you will restart with the blessing of a great scribe."

"Restart," the crowd repeated.

"-Restart." Creo, Beetle's brother, added in. He sniffed and started to pick at the sculpting near his back. The tome blocked the complete view, but Beetle heard a rock-chunk hit the floor and he winced.

The scribe glanced back. "Yes... you selected from this, the Syntopicon, in order to find new understanding for yourself. What one chooses to understand molds who they are. What did you choose, Beetle?"

The sandshrew leafed through the open book, arriving at a chapter close to the end. A pang of guilt went through him as the scribe's left arm faltered under the weight, needing an assistant to rush forward to catch it. The politoed bolstered him with a smile even as he fought to regain control. A brief look at the chapter's picture, the outside view of the Moiety, won over his nervousness. This would be his subject. How he would help his tribe survive in the rough Sand Continent. Even if others thought it a useless topic, he could prove them wrong with effort.

"Destiny," Beetle said.

"Destiny," the crowd answered back.

He heard the amateur scribes, here to learn, eagerly call out the word to please Maxim. Beetle's father's aide, a bibarel, cried loud, to assuage the fact father couldn't attend. Volunteer-striders, tasked with keeping ferals at bay, spoke the quietest. Beetle missed his brother's voice in the chorus altogether.

"Destiny," Maxim said, "a chapter on intended paths. It also represents the work of the Protectors, and those who learn from the four Moieties are expected, by the tribe, to be the door through which Protectors come to exist. It is why we refer to this temple as the Moiety: it is the end, and the beginning. Two parts of the whole, the ultimate change. If a Protector appears before you, Beetle, you will lose a part of yourself to the task. Are you willing?"

Medicine. Battling. The sun, the moon, light, anger, sadness, these were all topics one could study under the Syntopicon's guidance. The great book of topics gave instructions on where one should go to understand a subject--for Destiny, it listed the four Moieties. Students of Destiny were pilgrims, incomplete, having abandoned their intended path. Instead these students sacrificed everything for the Rover tribe. To gain the right to summon Protectors... and defend the entire Continent from ruin.

Beetle nodded sickly. "I believe so."

Creo coughed.

"Y-Yes," Beetle amended, resisting his urge to peek over the Syntopicon. As loathsome as it would be to lose more of the sculpting, Beetle hoped a chunk would find its way onto his brother's skull. "Absolutely! If it's my destiny to experience these changes, I accept it."

The two assistants lifted the Syntopicon over the politoed's head, then snapped it shut. A cold, webbed hand came to rest on his forehead.

"I declare you a student of Destiny," the scribe said. "Study well."

A congratulatory murmur coursed through the crowd. Beetle felt a lump for in his throat.

The murmurs turned to hisses as Creo left his spot and started to walk down the crumbling hall. Beetle, now unshielded by his tome, caught his brother's unconcerned look.

"What're you thinking?" The scribe asked, dropping his regal tone. "Creo, your brother is now a student of Destiny. He must still try to summon a Protector."

Creo blinked. "Oh. I wasn't aware we'd bother." He went on all fours and scampered back into line. Not an inkling of embarrassment to be seen.

"Hmph! Beetle, step back from the pedestal. We must set up for the ritual."

"Can I go speak to my brother?" Beetle asked.

The politoed leaned in. "My arms are tired. Strike true that cur for my sake!"

He tried to find a laugh but found the weight missing from his shoulders distracting. It was supposed to be weightier than this. He had expected responsibility to beam into him from the stone Protectors' eyes. It felt all too small. Maybe if father saw...

He jumped off of the pedestal and bee-lined for Creo. Both sandshrew and sandslash spun around to face the wall and spoke in hushed whispers.

"Big brother," Beetle whined. "You are ruining my ceremony."

"Sorry!" Creo cried, yet if Beetle knew his brother, he was just building on his next remark. "I didn't expect you to try and summon those creatures that've been dead for ten years."

Beetle snarled.

"You have, what, six or eight, nine pokemon patting your back for choosing to be a student of Destiny? Why d'ya need me to smile?"

"Because you're my-gah!" Beetle noticed he had broken the threshold, and now confirmed for everyone a squabble. Tears formed in his eyes. This wasn't the sort of attention he left the safety of the tribe for, certainly not the reward worthy of adventuring into a Mystery Expanse. "Oh, I acted out..."

A gargantuan claw fell on his shoulder. "Shh, shh..."

The sandshrew shuddered.

"Okay. I realize it now, my behavior is nothing short of infuriating. I'm trying hard to respect your decision, Little Beetle." He closed his eyes. "But I remember what happened to the last student of Destiny, and I imagine you away from the others, and how much fun you'll miss."

Fun? Beetle regretted it, but he fared differently than his father and brother. All of them burrowers, used to sticking to the ground. Beetle wanted to be more like the bird, high-up in the air, the quills of feathers prickling his skin as they pulled loose, making room for others to grow. It made his stomach churn: it was his belief he took after mother.

The two brothers put their heads together, breathing out the argument, taking in fresh air. Like all the problems they shared, it would come to pass. It was the nomad's advantage: they were a forgetful kind.

"How angry were you?" Creo teased.

Beetle chuckled. "When you coughed at me, I hoped a rock would-"

His brother shoved him back. The room spun, the smooth of the sandshrew's back helping him build spin rather than lose it to friction. Practicing what little his brother taught him, Beetle drove out a claw and wrenched to a painful halt-chest stinging, his arm and its socket in flames. Before being furious or hurt, confusion overwhelmed him in the instants following.

Creo backed away as a boulder-it was no chunk-punched into the ground.

Beetle thought he saw the noise explode out from where it fell. The concussive force snared on his body, forcing him into a backwards crawl. He was not used to such loud crashes. It robbed him of his hearing, worse than that, the ensuing high-pitched whine in his eardrums inspired fear, the fear of more rocks falling down, no way to tell where, and so they did, pebbles and chunks of many sizes rained and one even managed to cut his ear. It was as if he couldn't hear his own pain.

The scribe managed to grasp his arm. He panicked and won against the older pokemon, earning the right to flee towards the wall. The other pokemon didn't have the wherewithal to seize him. Feeling the heroic Protectors under his claw, the blinded, deaf sandshrew clumsily entered into a ball-the beetle's refrain

Help: the child begged for it. His ears acclimated, but he didn't dare peek out.

"Some energy ran through the Moiety!" A pokemon called, an amateur scribe ever yearning to impress. "The ruin is in disrepair. The energy is laying it flat!"

Several voices entered a yelling match, but Creo shouted them down. "My brother is over there! He doesn't know what to do!"

A blue light bloomed on the back of Beetle's eyelids. A cool sensation worked over his trembling body, and he found it easier to breathe. He felt as if the rocks couldn't reach him, so close to the pedestal. It seemed like another side-effect to this newfound terror, but he welcomed it. It was like he was speaking to someone wondrous, yet, somehow, not privy to what about.

"The chief's son needs us," Maxim wailed. "Everyone dig..." the rumbling subsided. "T-The earthquake's..." a few rocks joined their siblings on the ground, and all went still.

Silence. Beetle rolled out of his ball, feeling tireder than ever before. A rock hadn't touched him after the one hit his ear. The stone Protectors spared him.

"Little Beetle!" Creo was yelling, over and over, though his voice sounded muffled. The sandshrew rubbed his eyes and understood what 'over there' meant: a barrier of rubble blocked the path out of the Moiety.

Beetle laid a claw on one of the rocks, choking back a sob. "Here, brother. I'm scared."

Creo let out a sigh of relief. "Thank Arceus. Don't be scared for long, I'm digging you a way to our end."

Someone on the other end spoke, voice brought low in an attempt to exclude Beetle. "There is a very good chance this pile stopped the place from crumbling."

"Oh, you're right. Let's leave him there forever," Creo spat. "If your belly is yellower than mine is, metaphorically speaking, I'd start running. Beetle, step back. I'm shaking things up again."

Please don't, Beetle thought. The need to escape his small prison was overwhelming, however, and he obliged. From the other side came noises of preparation, as well as a few pokemon scrambling for the exit. It was easier to focus on this than the crumbled roof or uncomfortable creaking in the walls.

Step, step, step Beetle went back, until his paw landed on something icy resting atop the pedestal. He gasped and whipped around. Right away another endeavor began, this time a sprint, a race to start digging an exit.

"Help!" Beetle screamed, "there's something in here with me!"

Creo roared and struck at the rock. The entire room shook in protest.

"Halt, halt," Maxim said. His tone took on the reverence it had before. "The burst of energy... Beetle, see if you might find a lantern."

Air or action it was, so the child held his breath and picked up a lantern somehow spared a crack. Removed from its corner among the rubble, the lantern's light cast over the tomb. Now, perhaps, sixteen feet out and eight feet wide.

On the pedestal rested a pokemon, like Beetle knew. It slept with all its legs tucked in around a great belly, studded in the center by a gem that saw the flickering light with a dazzle all its own. As Beetle blinked away the flash and stowed the torch while stifling a whimper, the sparkling dimmed to a luster, it became easier to notice how the torrents of dust in the air were chilled into a standstill about the pokemon's body.

A rock popped loose and streaked by the stranger's nose, hitting a corner of the pedestal.

Its eyes didn't open, not yet, they just moved behind the lids. Its body did rise, to a tall and audacious height. The pedestal proved too small, meaning it wiggled off to stand before Beetle.

"What is it?"

Now its eyes shot open. For a moment they were milky, empty, and a pang of fear shot through Beetle: this had to be a feral pokemon broken in by the quake. Then wit flooded behind the dinosaur's pupils. It was like a cup of intelligence spilt into the creature, in a flash it seemed to move, look, breathe as a sentient pokemon does.

Now standing and sentient, Its, his, eyes fell on Beetle, and he seemed to understand something immediately. He winked.

"How's it going?" The Protector asked.


	2. chapter 2

"I can't believe this," Maxim said, humbled by the voice he heard through the debris. "A Protector speaks for the first time in a decade."

"I can't believe this," Creo echoed, far less enthused. Wonder threatened to break through his sarcastic gib. At the very least, he was no longer hellbent on digging, which said more than enough about the intensity of what transpired.

The Protector stepped forward, causing Beetle to squeak, fall back onto the pile of rocks.

"Wow-wee!" The Protector cheered. "I feel like a million bars of gold. Hey, summoner, do I look striking or what?"

It took a second for Beetle to realize he was being addressed. "S-Summoner?" He asked.

"Yeah. You summoned me up so I can protect n' stuff. You also gave me a name, and I will give you credit, it is a stunning and shocking name. All Protectors have two-word names, and you used each word to its fullest extent. You'd need the best words to describe a powerhouse like me, anyway."

"When did you name it?" Creo asked through the wall.

Beetle shrugged, despite there being a wall, and said, "I don't remember doing that," despite remembering the acute sensation of speaking to something. There had been a blue light, too. There was a summoning with no setup and no recollection of how it was performed.

Whatever was happening, the pokemon struck a pose, head hefted into the air on his long neck, carried on his broad shoulders. "You named me... Brazen Star! Brazen Star the amaura! Shing!" He flashed his stomach-gems, causing Beetle to cry out and drop the lantern.

Creo chortled.

"You, behind the debris," Brazen Star growled. "You're not impressed?"

"Oh, I'm impressed, alright." Creo laughed again. "Just not with you. Not until you get my brother out."

Beetle twisted around, mouth agape. No excuse came for the outlandish name. There was excitement. Exhilaration. So much so, truth be told, he forgot all about the quake.

"Y-You should be impressed with me," the amaura said, stung. "My summoner is in jeopardy, so I will show off a skill of mine. I just need to find my insignia... where is my insignia?" Dust exploded out as Brazen Star threw himself onto the ground, neck craning to get a better look at his body. "Um. Okay. Just... just stay ready to be impressed..."

The scribe busied himself with his own thoughts. "The theory is true, then. A Protector matches their summoner's age. This amaura sounds not a year over choosing his own vocation from the Syntopicon."

"Grr..." Brazen star continued to wriggle.

Beetle raised a claw. "I-I see it on your right forepaw." It was a red etching contrasted to the Protector's blue hide. Four diamonds, arranged around a circle: Beetle recalled the image from the entrance into the Moiety, and from what he read in the Syntopicon. Four Protectors, one summoner. Once somebody summoned once, it was their duty to call, and guide, the rest. Afterwards the four separated from their tutor, to defend the Sand Continent on their terms, not coming back to the summoner in but the direst times of need.

Brazen Star rolled back up. "D-Ding! Ding! You're right. It was a... summoner's test. Without further ado, your reward." He planted his forepaw on the pedestal...

The four stone Protectors came to life. The first, a heracross, kneeled down so his horns fell in reach of the second, an ivysaur. The second's vines wrapped around these horns and a red glow flittered through the wall's cracks. Then the third and fourth, a nidoking and solrock, came alive, the former lifting the latter to the point where the crimson light shone strongest. Finally the first summoner, residing in the same mural and depicted as a pidgeot, gave its wing to the light.

The sculpting broke open, revealing itself as two double-doors. A hall led away from the mess made of the summoning room.

"There's a way out!" Beetle cried gleefully. "The Protector opened up the wall."

"Good going," Creo replied. "He better do what's in his job description."

Maxim hummed in agreement. "Those hidden halls lead to rooms once used for celebration, though ferals might be keeping them now. Keep the chief's son safe, Brazen Star. We would do best to seek out the end of their path, Creo. Spread news to the others waiting outside."

"Be smart, Little Beetle," Creo said.

The two ran off, leaving Beetle to smile at his Protector.

"Follow my lead," Brazen Star said.

Beetle tried his best not to lose himself in the moment. A real, live Protector had come to his aid! A ten year drought broken, a lifetime of want ended, his dreams come true. He must have inspected the amaura a dozen times head-to-toe-

Which was easy, seeing how the pokemon stopped occasionally to pose.

Brazen Star jolted forward again, eyes focused on the dark path ahead. He presented the insignia on the bottom of his paw to an imaginary foe-glanced back to gauge Beetle's reaction.

"Evil beware," the Protector bellowed. "The light of my crystal drives you back."

He twisted to the left. To the right. His gems flashed white with fury. "How was that pose?" He asked. The gems relaxed into their natural luster.

Beetle nodded. "I like that one. So... how strong are you?"

"The strongest."

"What kind of power do you use?" Beetle's father and brother used the power of ground. It was the likeliest explanation to how Creo spotted the earthquake in time.

"The coolest," Brazen Star answered. His cryptic tone dared the sandshrew to press him.

Beetle cocked his head to the side, giving in to curiosity.

"Ice!" The amaura breathed a puff of cold air. It refreshed the sandshrew walking through it.

Together they hustled down the hall, now wound longer than the one Beetle entered with Creo and the rest. It looked like it might put them at the exit to the Mystery Expanse.

"The Syntopicon says you have memories from all the other Protectors," Beetle said, the long walk making him restless. "Is that true? Can you tell me a story?"

Brazen Star became skittish. "U-Um. I think that's the usual fare. But... there's a big gap of nothingness in the way. I can't recall a thing. Not my fault... anyway!" The pokemon puffed up his chest. "I don't 'tell' other pokemons' stories. I make my own."

"Sounds amazing," Beetle replied, an answer to fill the silence while he puzzled out the amaura's meaning. A new problem emerged and Beetle put a hold on his puzzle. The end of their walk was in sight.

The Protector took the lead. "We've come upon the dining chambers. That I remember crystal clear."

They arrived at a large room. Beetle had forgotten what spaciousness looked like, stuck in the Moiety for what seemed like years. A flight of stairs led down to a place full of what, sadly, looked to be rotted tables. To their horror, not all the tables had been cleared of their last meal.

At least I think it's food, the sandshrew thought, wanting to gag. There was a fortunate passage over it all, in the form of a wooden stage.

"What happened to my precious Moiety?!" Brazen Star cried. "First a cave-in, now... now this? Has your tribe decided to live in sties?"

"The last four Protectors fell in battle and the Moieties stopped working," Beetle explained. "My father decided to give up on maintenance to focus on actual work. We need everything we can get nowadays."

"A decade of absence. That means... hm. I'll be extra amazing to everyone, then."

All the other gusto from the Protector made him seem larger than life. This shocked the child who had so far been in love with his situation.

"Excuse me?" Beetle began to ask. "Why would you-"

A shadow burst out from under the distant tables. Whatever thing it was chittered and devoured an old apple core-along with half a brittle silver plate. Beetle's eyes adjusted: it was a feral sandile.

His Protector also spotted it. "At least these pipsqueaks will pick the place clean eventually."

The sandshrew nodded. His mouth went drier than the Wastes, if he looked down, perhaps, his cream-colored belly would be bouncing, because his heart thumped harder than ever before. He had seen ferals before. On the way to the Moiety, as soon as that, they were a given of any Mystery Expanse. But his brother, as well as other adults, had been there to drive them back. Tiny ones such as this had itchy legs and fled after a good blow. Brazen Star was a Protector! It was a sure thing that a round with the amaura would leave the thing as hungry for an exit as they were.

His brother's voice echoed in his head. Use your noggin. Avoid attracting attention to yourself. Stay on the second floor, loop around, nice and easy. Why fight?

He accidentally nodded to nothing. "Hey, let's sneak-B-Brazen? Ah!"

Brazen Star was on the ground floor. The sandile reared onto its hind legs, head twisted in curiosity.

One foreleg raised, the Protector flashed his gems. "Evil beware, the light of my crystals drive you back!"

The sandile, although feral, looked to be smiling. A chorus of slithering and snapping teeth filled the room. There were more feral sandile to go around. They, too, had been hidden underneath the table. They had a meal better than rotted apples on the mind.

Why did he go and do that?! Beetle thought, panicking. We could have went around all this!

"Plenty of eyes.. all the better to behold my awesome power."

"Um... um..." Beetle gulped. If they were knocked out, they could pop up anywhere outside the Expanse. Without supplies, an unconscious trip opposite to home promised to be very dangerous. Knowing this, Beetle resolved to stand by his Protector and join him on the ground floor-except the way down was blocked by sandile slithering towards him.

Thinking fast he threw himself down, smashing into a table and its plate of old bones once wrapped in the meat of a cow. He handled the loud noise better this time, but the fall introduced him to the whiffling force of gravity. It took all he had and something else to spur his stubby legs to term. But the sandshrew did manage to un-stick the refuse on his arm and join the Protector.

"We're gonna tussle," Brazen star said. "Know how to fight?"

"I n-never swung hard at anyone before!"

The Protector glanced down at Beetle's claws. "Don't punch at them. You'll break your paw. Slash."

Just then, a sandile flew in to attack.

Brazen Star managed to hop up, one toothy lunge averted. The amaura snapped up the feral's tail, lifting it into the air. One spin, two spins! He tossed the dizzied fiend into a moldy table, snapping it-the table-in half.

Yet two more sandile rushed in, going straight for the legs again. One clamped down around Brazen Star's paw, the one with the insignia-he had attempted the same trick twice. Only Beetle's horrified whimper stopped the second sandile from joining in, perhaps tripping the amaura.

Beetle raised a claw as it approached. "I'll get you good!" He threatened. He attempted a snarl, it was a whimper. The feral gave no thought to it. Its jaw snapped. Open and shut.

Too nervous to swing at a living creature, Beetle smacked a nearby chair. The chair teetered into the feral's path, tangling itself around the beast's neck. It was a moment of pure fortune. Those sharp teeth shook inches from the child's snout. Its breath definitely didn't smell like sitrus spread... and the seat looked ready to crumble...

A great jaw closed around the chair's leg. Brazen Star had shaken off the ankle-biter, who now sat dazed in the open, and had real violent plans on what to do next.

With a cry, the Protector slammed sandile, chair, sandile together, forming the Sand Continent's weirdest sandwich.

"Take a seat, we'll be right with you!" Brazen Star roared. "This Protector doesn't have a reservation. A reservation against beating tail! How was that, summoner?"

Beetle spied how his Protector hiked up his wounded leg. "F-Fine... I guess," he said, panting. "We didn't need to hurt them-""

A pair of spindly legs latched onto Beetle's back. The sandshrew screamed and fell forward into a ball, as a sandile attempted to bust him open as if he was just some prawn. Fangs glanced off his hide, snagged before breaking away, then finally settled into a rivet along his carapace.

Brazen Star ripped the feral off before it could dig in.

"Not cool of you," he growled. "Now this, this will be cool." His chest ballooned with air. The wily creature tried to flee yet found itself unable to navigate the tangle of its defeated brethren. Before Beetle collected himself it was an icestorm unleashed, a torrent of icy air that caused the sandile's joints to lock up. The others cried out in consternation and fled, abandoning their allies to frigid doom.

Clank, clank, clank, clank. Four frozen ferals remained.

The two pokemon didn't mind the foul taste of the air they gulped down.

"You... you like what you see?" Brazen Star asked.

Beetle, after all that waiting... couldn't answer if he liked what he saw. Instead, he clambered up the stairs, retrieved his lamp, and brought it to the sandile, their teeth chattering. Icicles formed on the bottom of their hind legs.

"Sorry," Beetle whispered. He placed the heat source next to their frozen bodies and gestured to Brazen Star that he wanted to continue their trek to the surface.


	3. chapter 3

After their respite in the dining hall, if it could be called that, the Moiety sent them back into its corridors. Beetle, amid distress coming from a hundred places, worried that the Moiety's layout had been altered. In an Expanse, square miles of land could be re-plotted in an instant, making them impossible to map. This changing renewed their resources like fruit, medicine... and treasure. Sources of profit for his tribe, collected by rovers who fought ferals and the environment to gather them. Without experience, stuck in ruins, it was far less than profitable.

Beetle wondered if Brazen Star, for sure, remembered there was a way out. The layout of the building could be completely random... and Beetle had a sneaking suspicion Brazen star was the sort to say he knew a way out, even if he didn't, because doing otherwise would admit to being less than amazing.

He was actually casting doubt on a Protector. Everything in Beetle told him to fix that. He stopped walking and turned to face the amaura. It was dark, considering their lantern now belong to several freezing ferals.

"Earlier," the sandshrew said, "you said something about how you'd be 'even more popular.'"

"I might have," Brazen star answered. "Oh, right. Do you still hold welcoming celebrations for my sort? Will mine be larger than normal?"

"We do celebrate Protectors..." the sandshrew breathed in deep. "You don't know what we've been through. It has been very hard to explore Expanses without your help." Large pokemon, monstrous in power, often took residence in their gathering spots. Ones that kept rovers up the nights before they traveled in. Many had quit roving for safer work elsewhere. "Father said we might have to settle in Sahara Town... maybe even abandon the Continent altogether."

Brazen Star nodded studiously. "It's okay. I don't mind a humble celebration, summoner, if your group hasn't the money."

Beetle gasped. An invective leaped onto the edge of his maw before the hall's dim light flickered. He wobbled, arms flailing for support, eyelids fluttering as he fought off sleep.

The amaura caught him. "Summoner!" He exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm so tired," Beetle said. "I haven't been hurt too much, though."

"Your mental fortitude matters here," Brazen Star said. "Even incidents that cause you severe emotional hurt, and nothing else, can lead to you fainting."

That was a major difference between Mystery Dungeons and Mystery Expanses. In Dungeons, the longer one stayed, the more their want increased. Hunger, pride, money. In an Expanse, hunger progressed as normal, but it instead played games with the mind. A testament to their size and the attrition required to travel them. Beetle's father always said that Expanses reward a pokemon's wits as much as their strength.

"My stunning visage probably rallied your emotions, as it should, yet-hey!" Brazen Star frowned, craning his neck around to stare at the sandshrew. "Are you not impressed by me anymore?"

There were a lot of answers to the question, good and bad. Beetle moaned and slumped over, only to be brought off the precipice by a good prodding to his head.

"Stick with me."

"O-Okay I'm up." The sandshrew mumbled a noise close to these words.

"You want to be a powerful summoner, right? Well, I want you around too."

Beetle gave a lopsided smile. "You do want me?"

"An audience needs at least one."

The child groaned and slumped down farther.

"U-Um, imagine all the cool pokemon you'll summon now that you've conjured me. Four of us, and you, taking on all those monsters hurting your livelihood. Things will never be the same."

Bit by bit, the promises drove off Beetle's sleepiness. There were a thousand gravelers jumping up and down on his shoulders, but he could manage. He broke free of Brazen Star's support and trudged on towards the exit. There had to be one. Hit a dead end, and they'd have to mosey on to another. As a nomad, he was used to the marching.

They reached another room, this one so large the far walls lost themselves in gloom. It carried a different scent. It was a shocking enough scent to break Beetle's stupor, like some smelling salts held right under his tiny nostrils.

"Where... are we?" He asked.

Brazen Star laughed. "The old ceremonial room. Another memory returns to me... this used to be where Rovers celebrated a summoning. In my mind's eye, I see hundreds, crying out a single name... oh, I wish I was summoned then! N-No offense."

"Rovers. That's my tribe."

"The same. This was before the Expanse swallowed up the Moiety, made this temple just another part of its maze."

The sandshrew nodded. "That was decades ago. You can only bring so many pokemon into the same Expanse, so a room like this is useless."

The amaura walked forward, taking a whiff of the air. Beetle knew the smell, now: it was fresh air! A yellow bloom at the end of the atrium told of gigantic doors, pushed ajar, leading to the outside world. Beetle thought the rush of sensations almost reduced him to tears.

"They started to celebrate in what used to be the servant's quarters," Brazen Star said. "Then, seeing that unnecessary, even so it was essential, they transitioned to what is actually the alternate exit. We just escaped through the main entrance." His chest swelled with pride. "We solved a mystery, summoner! Doesn't that put energy back into your body?"

"Let's go find my brother!" Beetle cried, running forward. "I can't wait to tell him about how I tangled up a sandile in a chair, and had one attack my back..."

"Hey, what about my exploits?" The Protector asked, with a whine. But he followed nonetheless, perhaps just as eager to see the world.

This Protector was born an hour ago, Beetle told himself, of course Brazen Star had his quirks. This was the start to a great adventure. Saving the Rovers! Making new friends! Exploring dark places! Creo would be envious of all the attention, Beetle knew. All the glory to be had...

A peculiar scene rose out of the gloom. A bivouac, established in the middle of the building. One jug of water, dressed in thick leather straps meant to be worn around the waist of a beast ten times his size. A few orbs. Any Rover worth his salt could recognize their functions by the color of the strand going through their pearl bodies. But Beetle was a student of Destiny, and didn't learn the same material as typical students.

Brazen Star softened his footsteps. "Strange. That orb near the front, it's used to join together two groups. So they are in the same Expanse. You can tell by the yellow-orange swirl."

Beetle gnashed his teeth together. "We didn't need one-Creo, the others and me."

"Entering in close succession, one after another, also works." The amaura sniffed the air. "Did your group plan a late guest? Joiner orbs work only if they are attuned to another joiner orb."

"The joiner orb is the same color as the orbs set in rover badges. I remember from when my brother held his over my head and made me jump for it."

The camp held supplies for one. Creo wouldn't have invited any one guest-the sandslash didn't even want to attend himself.

"Who has a badge in your group?" Brazen Star asked.

Beetle dreaded answering. Too much seemed off, and the sandshrew didn't want to blame his one brother of sneaking around. But he wouldn't dare lie to a Protector. "My brother, Creo..."

The name won a snort. "The one that laughed at my name, I bet. Sorry, summoner, but when we see him, he and I will have a duel over that slight."

It was a comment worthy of some concern, except for the slowly-opening doors across the room that stole Beetle's attention.

"Light," he said, cowering.

"Yes, it was a slight to mock my name."

"No, light! From the door."

The great double doors creaked open. A shadow slithered through the crack, its many legs working at once to carry a body that had to be wide enough to jam in the Moiety's corridors. Before its size, or the fact Beetle heard it breathing from far away, or its yellow eyes staring at his head, Beetle was horrified one thing: he didn't recognize this pokemon. It was no Rover. Yet it had to be the owner of the bivouac, which, in turn, belong to someone who attuned joiner orbs with Creo.

Almost laid flat by a head-rush, Beetle composed himself and scurried into the dark, away from the light glow of the orbs. He wasn't going anywhere near the monster. He didn't trust it.

Brazen Star, however, took a step forward. The monster hadn't seen them yet.

"No, no, no!" Beetle whined. "Please come hide."

"No," the Protector growled. "I deserve answers."

"That big thing will pluck the gems out of your belly and floss with them," Beetle said at rapid pace. "As your summoner I command you stop acting crazy and hide with me."

Yet there was a problem: Beetle and Brazen Star, no matter how they perceived themselves, matched age.

The amaura puffed out his chest. "Don't boss me around! This treatment is not becoming of a protector."

"Who goes there?" The monster boomed. Beetle tucked himself into a ball, one eye reluctantly exposed to the scene.

The stranger, a scolipede, crawled forward. Its blood-red carapace appeared black in the darkness. Yet black only made the resemblance to blood stronger. It was a miracle the grim thing didn't knock Beetle unconscious with its mere visage.

"Did you litter in my ceremonial hall?" Brazen Star asked.

"You must be the Protector born from all that rumbling, nice to meet you," the scolipede replied. "You saved me a tussle with that rover outside by choosing this exit. That makes you not very good at your job, but you're audacious, and I find you adorable. Go ahead and bring me your summoner. I'll leave you alone to impress the rocks and the sand."

Beetle stifled a squeal and rolled backwards. This stranger wanted to fight. To steal him away. Why?

"You're gonna regret exposing your intentions," the Protector growled. "The light of my crystals will drive you back."

"No, they couldn't drive cockroaches off your lunch. This is what happens. My yellow sclera are not for show-their unique shade assists me in aiming. Behold."

A tiny clack sounded off near Beetle, accompanied by the briefest glimpse of a thing flying through the air. He wasn't scared by it, until Brazen Star started stumbling over his words.

"D-Don't you dare hurt him," the amaura shouted.

The scolipede laughed. "That was a demonstration. Turn over the summoner... or I bring him with me skewered on a poison dart. Technically, by giving up, you are protecting him from a whole lot of suffering."

Skewered and poisoned... Beetle trembled, hoping it was all a bad dream. Let the dream end, let the Protector go back to being a dream in his head, these wishes kept him from popping up and waving his arms in surrender.

His Protector crouched down, ready to fight back. "I can't wait to see all one million of your legs tripping on my ice." Brazen Star shattered the room's silence with a roar. The air became colder. A patch of icy ground formed under the stranger's legs, threatening to lay the beast flat if he tried to move.

Yet the pokemon moved gracefully on the ice. It was a spectacle: something several hundred pounds in weight gliding across the atrium floor-head reared back and ready for a strike before Brazen Star was even done with his move.

A resounding crack made Beetle imagine shrinking into the size of a pebble and getting lost among the floor's grooves. His Protector cried out, yet the cry transformed into another roar, this one far less confident.

"For a rare sort," the scolipede said, "you're far too reckless with your lives."

Beetle witnessed a shocking sihlouette, the shadow of Brazen Star rearing on its hind legs, two long needles poking from its shoulders. The shadow's owner fell, the poison inside those needles making it impossible to move.

"Weak. Astoundingly so." The scolipede closed in on the poisoned Protector. "The Continent deserves a real summoner. Someone who will let the Protectors be born strong and ready for what's to come."

"What's to come... is me laying you flat!" Brazen Star struggled back onto his feet, only for his legs to splay out.

"I was hoping to let you run amok." The scolipede scowled. "Yet I see the bond between a summoner and its Protectors is too strong." Twin blades rested atop the stranger's head. Ready to cleave just about any corporeal thing in two. "Good-bye-"

"Wait!" Beetle yelled.

For one of his age and strength, Beetle should have fainted on the cold stone. Yet, where just doom was supposed to be found, Beetle discovered a rush of confidence. His body felt stronger than ever, and it screamed at him to attack.

The scolipede turned around. "Oh?"

"I-I made a decision." The sandshrew placed a paw on his chest, pushing back against his racing heart.

"What's that, whelp?

"I-I'm going to charge right at you now. So prepare yourself." He pointed a sharp claw at the scolipede.

"...Why?"

"We're in a lot of trouble either way, and my father would want me to try hard."

"Aw, how precious you are. Okay." He used one his myriad legs to kick Brazen Star away. "Come at me. I will pose for battle and everything. Got to make it feel real for the Continent's first summoner in a decade."

Beetle sucked in some air.

The stranger lowered his head.

Silence. Silence longer. The energy holding up his body seemed to whistle out of his ears, it was so fierce. He was blessed with a good chance of doing damage... and yet...

The stranger lifted his head back up.

"You have no intention of charging me."

Beetle wiped a tear from his eye, too frustrated to speak at first. Back at camp, all the Rovers were his extended family. Maybe it was different in an Expanse, but in his family, his tribe, they did things differently than ferals. "I'm sorry we surprised you at your campsite," he managed to get out. "To be honest, I have no idea what to do in this situation. Can we just talk instead?" He sniffled and stepped closer so they wouldn't have to holler. "What's your name?"

The scolipede adjusted himself. "Not a lot of time for this for neither of us. But if it makes you come along quietly, no tricks, you can call me Antony."

"Hi Antony," Beetle said, stifling a whimper. "What do you need a summoner, um, me for?"

Antony looked back at the double doors, then focused on them, in case a pokemon attempted to sneak through during their talk. "The Continent's in trouble. Part of the problem has to do with a lack of strong Protectors. A larger part has to do with how Rovers manage things. Your father, the chieftain of the Rovers, did something wrong."

He knew all about who he was, Beetle realized. This wasn't an average criminal. They were close to the Rovers.

"We need you to set everything right. Now there's no way you or your tribe will admit to your leader causing trouble. I'm sorry you summoned, kid. This is the one method we know of procuring a summoner, and you happened to become one, to volunteer."

"Okay, thank you for telling me," the sandshrew said. "I didn't know things were like that."

"Wait, what? Whelp, I could be lying. Don't be gullible."

If only. On the long list of things Antony was being-brutal, oppressive, scary-the scolipede looked like an honest pokemon. It hurt to think of any of the Rovers' troubles being the fault of its leader, and his dad, but Beetle tried his best to stay on target.

"If father did wrong, I want to set it right. I need to talk to my dad before leaving, though, to hear his side of the story. It's only fair." He rubbed his paws together, nervous. "Can we stop by my tribe, first, and make sure Brazen Star sees a doctor and I have my conversation? Then I do whatever you want, promise."

Antony laughed, then realized the child was serious. "You named your Protector Brazen St-agh, look, your father won't allow you to go without information, and I am under orders not to tell Rovers anything. I told you too much as it stands."

"I can't go peacefully, then. I guess I have to fight until my brother arrives."

"Was a good attempt at peace." The giant tensed for battle, respecting the diminutive pokemon and his threats.

"Antony?" Beetle called.

"What now?!"

"Thanks for helping me cover my options."

"I promise there will be plenty of time to explain all this," Antony said, "after I detain you-ow!" He whirled about, furious, stamping his legs to get rid of some invisible scourge. "Did your Protector stoop so low to nibble at my legs? Has this been some weak distraction?"

"No!" Beetle exclaimed. "W-Watch out, there's some... um..."

"I-I'd... never ever," Brazen Star said, coughing.

The truth was, the gigantic red bully had a sandile problem.

The pack of ferals crawled up the scolipede's legs, seeking a home for their fangs. The first managed for but a millisecond, finding a weakpoint on the pokemon's back. It was bucked off with tremendous force, yet more replaced it.

Beetle sat there stunned. Were the ferals hungry for some bug? Did their instincts tell them to take out the strongest foe first? Perhaps, in some crazy twist, they were paying back Beetle for his sympathy earlier. Either way, the scolipede was having trouble getting at the small ankle-biters. It spelled a chance to escape-Beetle ran as fast as his stubby legs could carry him.

Brazen Star laid out on the ground. The poison-induced illness ate away at his ability to breathe, needles still embedded in his hide. Not able to decide whether to pull at them, Beetle nudged him up and did what little there was to do: run.

"N-Now I turn the tables on 'im." The Protector slurred his words. Antony's cries boomed in the back of their ears, and their notes turned more victorious by the second.

"You tried it you way, so let's try mine. That's... only fair." Beetle grunted, bringing the large dino too bear.

After a pause, the amaura yielded and leaned on his summoner. They hobbled together, through the bivouac and towards the opened doors. It was odd, how nothing accompanied them in their flight except Antony's cries and the drumming of their breaths. Beetle's mind replaced the gaps with the fast drums that his tribe played whenever they set out on the day's journey.

Bum-dum-dum, bum-dum-dum...

"This got annoying fast," the scolipede growled. He chucked off the last sandile and went full-sprint. "You're both getting flattened, then peeled off the stone, and pummeled again."

"We need to move faster." Beetle coughed from exertion. "He's gaining on us..."

Bumdumdumbumdumdum... he shut his eyes and pitched forward, knowing they weren't making it out.

There was a chorus of squeaks. Many legs tripping on the same patch of ice, the same ice Brazen Star formed earlier with his breath.

"Ga-aa-h!"

Beetle looked back. Now the oversized worm was on the ground, joined again by snapping ferals. On his belly... was an insignia. A tattoo. Four yellow triangles, floating over a curve that reminded Beetle of a horizon. It was strange enough that it almost gave the sandshrew pause. Except he was too busy running for his (and Brazen Star's) life.

The light grew brighter. The scent of fresh air became detailed, including an earthy tint of sand and warm stone. The imaginary drumming tapered back into silence.

"No more games," the scolipede shrieked from behind, and the drums shot back to full force-BADUMDUM, BADUMDUM! This time Antony had defeated the sandile and the frozen floor together. The angered beast ran towards them. Still faster. Still unstoppable.

A pokemon appeared in the doorway. For a moment Beetle thought it was an ally of Antony's, and his heart filled with dread. They were going to be captured and taken to Arceus-knows-where.

The newcomer, a sandslash, glanced at Brazen Star, and snorted in disdain.

"Those are some weird shoulder ornaments," Creo said. "Let me get those for you, 'Protector.'"

There was a yelp that stopped everything: Creo yanked free the poisonous barbs in Brazen Star's shoulders, forcing a sudden noise from the amaura. Even Antony, at this point livid, paused to reconsider the situation.

"B-Brother!" Beetle sobbed and latched onto him. All the hubbub about joiner orbs, how Antony must have been invited by someone with a badge, was forgotten as Creo quickly returned the embrace. "T-T-There's someone right behind us named Antony."

The rover shoved the Protector aside. "I see that. Never ask legends to do a brother's job." He walked forward at a brisk pace, pointing a long claw at the beast. "Hi, I'm Creo. How are you?"

The scolipede backed up a few steps. "None of your concern."

"Better hope there's a teleport orb in that camp of yours. There's no other way you leave this place unharmed."

"I batter you, I destroy that loathsome Protector, and I snatch up the summoner. Eat feral sandile for lunch, too."

This did not faze the sandslash. He advanced, ready for a fight. "Then you wake up from your fantasy. I'm standing over you with a clamp. I take every leg you have and sell them to restaurants continent-wide so you might find one or the other, and not ever all of them. Speaking of lunch, I heard scolipede legs infuse a certain citrus-y spice to a broth. You'll remark on the claim's verity-I'm going to feed you your own stupid legs if I ever see you near Little Beetle again."

The two stared each other down. Beetle risked a glance down to see if Brazen Star was okay. The Protector stared on in sleepy envy, unable to rile up the energy to insert himself into the scene.

The stranger turned. "Ain't you a creative one? I can't read your strength, and I will not let myself be tricked twice under the same sun." He walked over to one of the orbs in his campsite. A teleport orb, most likely. Capable of transporting him to wherever he entered. "Hope we can meet again soon, summoner."

With a flash of light the nightmare left them. Teleported away so he might haunt them the next time Beetle found himself alone.

Maxim and his father's aide poured into the ceremonial room.

"Safe and sound," Maxim said, laughing nervously. "I told you, my memory remains impeccable."

"Thanks for finding the main entrance again," Creo replied.

"Fool!" The bibarel slapped a paw on the sandslash's chest. "You should have lured him into us. We needed to find out who he was. What mercenary exists with us in the Wastes..."

"I am aware. I didn't want to cause Little Beetle distress," Creo whispered. "Still don't, but touch me again right now and I might give you a trimming." He gathered up Beetle and brushed the child's head. "I haven't felt so angry since... grr, the things I plan on doing to that bug... stay awake, pal. Stay with me."

"Antony said father did something wrong," Beetle murmured.

"One of their many strategies to demotivate and confuse," the aide said. "Ignore his words, child. This Antony is a liar.

The rush of emotion that compelled him to fight earlier had disappeared. Beetle felt ashamed. His burst of energy didn't lead to some hyper-beam, or a table-turning attack. All it allowed him to do was beg. It didn't even work. A dark thought told him, glibly, that he deserved such an ornery Protector. Brazen Star didn't listen at all! There was the issue with the sandile, and he almost got them both captured by posturing in the middle of the ceremonial hall. Was this really a creature tasked with defending the Sand Continent?

Weak. Astoundingly so. Antony's words. And they worked in more ways than one.

Beetle shut out the bad thoughts by clinging tighter to his brother, who gave an instinctive "there, there." It wasn't the first time the sandshrew had nightmares.

But he was a summoner now, whatever that meant, because it wasn't working out as it did in dreams.

Nonetheless, there was no more room for crying. Creo and Maxim prepared a teleport orb, and as its power started to work on them all, Creo finally gave Beetle permission to sleep. By the time they arrived in the outside desert called the Wastes, he shifted about in an uneasy sleep.

* * *

AN: first "part" complete! Did Creo invite a thug to the ceremony? What is that strange tattoo on Antony? How did Beetle avoid fainting? Why is Brazen Star doing close to the opposite of his job? Hopefully you're as excited to find the answers as I am to make them! Please consider giving me feedback. It helps me heaps and I promise any questions or comments won't be met with silence. Thank you, no matter what, for reading!


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